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January 05, 2009

74% of the Few Part-Time Attorneys are Women

Here’s something that glided right past us on New Year’s Eve. While we were out buying last-minute bottles of champagne, the ever-industrious National Law Journal posted a piece about a survey by the National Association for Law Placement about attorneys who work part-time.

By choice, we assume, not just for lack of sufficient work.

The numbers weren’t jaw-dropping: Not that many attorneys in the United States keep part-time hours (5.6 percent), and of that group, the overwhelming majority (74 percent) are sporting a matched pair of X chromosomes. This was, the NLJ notes, “only a slight increase from the previous year, when 5.4 percent of attorneys worked part-time and 75 percent were women.”

The story continues with numbers for how many firms have part-time deals (98 percent), where those firms mostly are (San Francisco? Shocker!), why attorneys are reluctant to take up those opportunities (stigma), the long-term trend (upward) and other stuff.

The full story is here. A 2007 story about the need for a viable part-time model, and especially how that would benefit many women, is here.